100 Best Champagnes for 2017

FINE Champagne magazine, the only international publication devoted to champagne and tastingbook.com, the world’s largest wine information source recently announced their list of the ‘100 Best Champagnes for 2017’. Now an annual tradition, this list sets out to honour the incredible ageing ability of great champagne and give readers guidance as to which are tasting the best today.

Their mission, putting brand perceptions and prices aside, is to blind taste 1000 samples of current champagnes in the market: including non-vintages, vintages and prestige cuvées. The only champagnes excluded were late-disgorged wines, such as the Dom Pérignon Oènotheques, as their availability is so minimal and pricing so high.

This daunting (yet surely enjoyable task) was carried out by FINE Champagne magazine’s editorial board, headed by Essi Avellan MW, who commented: “Any champagne making it into the Top 100 in the rigorous blind tasting by our editorial board and guest specialists can warmly be recommended. FINE Champagne magazine’s aim with this annual ranking is to taste the vast offering on the international markets in order to select the champagnes that are showing best this very moment.”

In their article on the 100 Best Champagnes for 2017, FINE magazine note the tendency for several champagnes to divide opinion when tasted in their youth, such as Louis Roederer Cristal, Philipponnat Clos des Goisses and Dom Ruinart. Although highlighting that they are all exquisite, the editorial board believe they are champagnes that really need time and therefore can go unnoticed in a blind tasting.

That said, the list this year is a powerful gathering of some of the best in the industry. Topping the pile is Moët’s prestige cuvée MCIII NV, a unique cuvée revealed in 2015 that is unlike any other in both production and style. Also featured in the Top 5 are two brand-new releases: Louis Roederer Cristal 2009 and Dom Pérignon 2009, very impressive results given their young ages. Further, worth drawing attention to is the double-showing from Piper-Heidsieck in the Top 10. Whilst Piper-Heidsieck Rare 2002 is an unsurprising contender, Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel NV – a longer-lees ageing version of the house non-vintage – has performed exceptionally well finishing joint sixth.